Club des Patineurs de Paris
Club des Patineurs de Paris was a skating and ice hockey club in Paris, France. They played in the top-level of French ice hockey from 1906-1937.Le Club des Patineurs de Paris on hockeyarchives.info History The club was formed as an ice skating association known as Club des Patineurs in 1896. The first general meeting was held on February 20th at the home of its first president, Lucien Tignol. The club treasurer, Ben Tuault, succeeded Tignol as president in the summer of 1896. The main purpose of the organization at its outset was to unite the fans of skating, although it later organized several competitive disciplines as well. On December 14, 1902, Club des Patineurs organized an ice hockey match on Lake Enghien in collaboration with the newspaper L' Auto-Vélo and players from the former Hockey Club de Paris. The first French ice hockey team, founded in 1894, had mostly ceased activities since the closure of the Pôle Nord rink in 1898. A thaw cancelled the match, but five days later former French cycling champion Henry Couturier, known as Dickard, HCP's captain, proposed the club be merged with Club des Patineurs. The merger was approved on January 29, 1903, and the club became known as Club des Patineurs de Paris. Four matches are known to have been arranged between SC Lyon and CPP in 1903. Lyon is recorded to have won two games and Paris one, with the score from the fourth match unknown. The new team also played several exhibition matches featuring "Blue" and "Red" sides. The first such game ended 4-4, and the second, organized on January 3, 1904, in conjunction with a celebratory occasion of the newspaper, L'Auto, was won 5-4 by the "Red" side. The newspaper took photographs of the match, which sparked additional interest in the sport. In 1905, on March 4 and 5, CPP played its first international matches against FPB Bruxelles of Belgium, falling by scores of 3-0 and 4-2, respectively. The club's membership rose significantly, from 20 in 1904 to 300 in 1909, and it began issuing an official bulletin and holding twice-monthly meetings in 1905. In the 1905-06 season, its players were divided into four teams, fixed A and B squads (whose members wore blue and red uniforms, respectively) and more transient C and D teams (outfitted in green and orange uniforms). CPP played several matches against SC Lyon in 1906, prior to facing them on January 26, 1907, for the inaugural French Championship. They had defeated Lyon 4-3 about a month earlier, but were dominated 8-2 in the championship match. The following year, CPP triumphed over Lyon 2-1 in overtime to claim their first national title. The first women's ice hockey game in France was staged on February 9, 1908 (the same day as a men's contest featuring CPP and SCL) featuring "Red" and "Blue" teams of Club des Patineurs de Paris. The women, who were required to be related to male members of CPP, competed in the Savoye Challenge. The "Blue" team beat the "Red" side 1-0. After the closure of the Palais des glaces lyonnais (Lyon Ice Palace), SC Lyon was disbanded, leaving no opponent for the Parisians to compete against for the French Championship. They played in international matches until the national championship was restarted in 1912, after the creation of a new club, Chamonix HC, two years prior. The club won three straight championships from 1912-1914, before being disbanded at the start of World War I. They were re-founded as the Ice Skating Club de Paris in 1919 and won the French Championship three more times from 1920-1922. The club was again renamed as Club des Sports d'Hiver de Paris in 1921. From 1922-1931, CSHP Paris finished as runners-up in the championship to Chamonix HC in every season. However, some sources indicate that they won the 1926 Championship over Chamonix, however the federation officially awards the title to the latter squad. In 1932, they lost to Stade Français in the semifinals. CSHP dropped down to the second-level 2e série in 1933 and played in the competition until 1936, when they returned to the top-level 1re série. After a last place finish in the opening round Paris Championship in 1936-37, the club folded. Achievements *French champion (7): 1908, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1920, 1921, 1922. References Category:Ice hockey teams in France